X2?S1 132 A^ EDUCATION FOR LIFE By SAMUEL CHAPMAN ARMSTRONG SAMUEL CHAPMAN ARMSTRONG EDUCATION FOR LIFE By SAMUEL CHAPMAN ARMSTRONG n Founder of Hampton Institute WITH AN INTRODUCTION B-^ FRANCIS GREENWOOD PEABODY, FORMERLY PLUMMER PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN MORALS Al HARVARD UNIVERSiT'i . AND A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE BY HELEN W. LUDLOW, OF IHAMPTON INSTIIUTE rillLSS Ol'- THE HAMPTON XORMAL ANU AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTIC, H A M P T ON, V I R C I N 1 A, I 9 1 .3 Jl Real life makes real men. The attempt to cast all minds in one mould is useless. The educated man usually overestimates himself because his intellect has grown faster than his experience of life. Education is a means to an end. The end should determ ine the means. The neglect of. this is the rock on which thousands are wrecked. INTRODUCTION FRANCIS GREFNWOOD PRABODY Formerly Phimmer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard THESE sayings and teachings of General Arm- strong are collected for the sake of those who are trying to do the kind of work in which he led the way. Teachers in colleges, school committees in town and country , adminis- trators in institutions, directors of industrial affairs who wish to make business an instrument of social service, missionaries in foreign lands and in the equally unpenetrated jungles of the great cities, and statesmen concerned with the perplexing problems of racial adjustment and political efti- ciency, — all these, and many discouraged observ- ers of our national tendencies, may find confidence and hope renewed by these sane and searching words, and should keep this little tract before them as they try to promote an education which pre- pares for life. No one can read the following pages without recognizing that General Armstrong, in a degree hardly equaled in the history of education, had EDUCATION FOR LIFE the gift of prophecy. He foresaw and foretold with extraordinary precision the tendencies and transitions which within the last twenty-five yeai^ have practically revolutionized the principles of education. The training of the hand and eye as well as of the mind — or rather, the training of the mind through observation and manual labor — the moral effect of technical skill, the conception of labor as a moral force, the test of education in effi- ciency, the subordination in industrial training of production to instruction, the advantages to both sexes of co-education in elementary schools, and the vanity of education without discipline in thrift, self-help, love of work, and willingness to sacri- fice, — all these familiar maxims of modern voca- tional training are set forth with the assurance of a social prophet in these few pages of occasional utterances, in which the instinct of a creative genius anticipates the science of today. To this effect of original thought must be added the force of an incisive style. The manner is the symbol of the man — eager, masterful, flashing, and rapid, like a commander giving orders to himself and to his men. Armstrong was as careless for style in writing as he was for daintiness in dress ; but in both he was habitually a soldier, well-girt, ready for action, picturesque, and free. His sayings 8 INTRODUCTION dwell in the mind as his presence dwells in the memory. Much of what follows in these pages should be committed to memory by an> one who wants to make education a medium of personality. Armstrong's monument is the school which he founded, and which, though it has expanded won- derfully in number of students and in scope of teaching, still rests securely on his prophetic teach- ing and on the beautiful tradition of his conse- crated life. A distinguished American, being asked by a Northern friend where his son might get the best industrial training, is said to have answered, " Since you are so unfortunate as to be neither a Negro nor an Indian, your son cannot have the best of such training w hich this country has to give.'" Even if this claim to absolute leader- ship be a friendly exaggeration, it remains true that the school at Hampton has cherished and per- petuated in the most striking manner the lessons which this little collection of Armstrong's sayings illustrates. Thrift and self-help, the trained hand and the disciplined conscience, sacrifices without which, as Armstrong wrote, " no work counts for much," yet cheerful happiness, such as made him later say, " I never gave up or sacrificed anything in my life," — these are not only traits which will remain conspicuous at Hampton, but are not less EDUCATION FOR LIFE the qualities which, for students and teachers engaged in any kind of education, may change a self-deceived and fruitless culture into an educa- tion for life. 10 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE HELEN W. LUDLOW C!TANDING with uncovered head by General ^^ Armstrong's grave in the little burial ground of Hampton Institute, Dr. WicklifFe Rose, Gen- eral Agent of the Peabody Education Fund, said to his friend, Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Secretary of the General Education Board : " Do you real- ize that this man inaugurated what we call the new educational movement — the movement away from the abstract to the real? While no one can be said to have created it, he really inaugurated the movement which is changing the character of all educational processes and institutions." Samuel Chapman Armstrong was born on January 30, 1839, in a missionary home on a mag- nificent mountain slope of Maui, one of the Ha- waiian Islands. His parents, Richard Armstrong of Pennsylvania and Clarissa Chapman of Massa- chusetts (a sister of Chief Justice Chapman) were missionaries of the American Board from 1831 until 1847, when Dr. Armstrong was appointed Hawaiian Minister of Public Instruction. Grow- ing up in this environment, often making horseback 11 EDUCATION FOR LIFE and canoe tours around the islands inspecting schools, and living much among the natives, the son received impressions which were to develop into convictions and give him inspiration for his life work among other backward races. In 1860 he came to the United States to com- plete his education at Williams College, Mass., under Dr. Mark Hopkins, with whom his rela- tions became like those of a son. For his alma mater and its great leader he always maintained enthusiastic and grateful affection. Graduating with honor from Williams in 1862, he entered the Union Army with a captain's commission, leaving it at the close of the war Brevet Brigadier General. Of the influence of some of his army experience on his future life work he has written : " Two and a half years' service with Negro soldiers as lieutenant colonel and colonel of the Eighth and Ninth Regiments of the United States Colored Troops convinced me that the freedmen had ex- cellent qualities and capacities and deserved as good a chance as any people. Education methods to meet their needs must include special practical training and take -into account the forces of he- redity and environment. A dream of the Hamp- ton School, nearly as it is, came to me a few times during the war — an industrial system, not only for 12 EDUCATION OF TfJE HAND the sake of self-support and intelligent labor but also for the sake of character. And it seemed equally clear that the people of the country would support a wise work for the freedmen. I think so yet." In March 1866 General Armstrong was placed as Freedmen's Bureau officer in charge of ten counties of eastern Virginia with headquarters at Hampton, to manage Negro affairs and readjust, if possible, the relations of the races. This diffi- cult and delicate task he so performed that when, after two years, civil courts were everywhere else re-established, the military court at Hampton was kept up by request of the community for some six months longer. These two years also confirmed his ideas of true education and brought the opportunity to apply them to the needs of the freedmen. There was no popular enthusiasm then in any section for the manual-labor plan in education. People said: " It has been tried at Oberlin and elsewhere and given up ; it won't pay." " Of course," said he, " it cannot pay in a money way, but it will pay in a moral way ; it will make men and women." The American Missionary Association consented to try the plan he urged, and wisely asked him to take charge of it. The Hampton Normal and EDUCATION FOR LIFE Agricultural Institute was thus begun in 1868, but two years later, in 1870, it was granted a liberal charter by the State of Virginia, becoming in- dependent of any association or sect and of the Government. In 1878 Indians were admitted. The school has been from the first devoted to a demonstration of the method of learning by doing- a movement away from the abstract to the real. In the twenty-five years he lived to be Hampton's Principal, General Armstrong's life was given to pushing this idea, with a clear perception of its universal value and significance. The following memoranda were found at Hampton among General Armstrong's private pa- pers and were left with his will to be opened after his death. Those of his friends who have seen them have found them so characteristic and full of his spirit that they have thought they should not be with- held from a wider circle. MEMORANDA Now, when all is bright, the family together, and there is nothing to alarm and very much to be thankful for, it is well to look ahead and, perhaps, to say the things that I should wish known should I suddenly die. 14 IJIOGRAPHICAI, NOTE I wish to be buried in the school graveyard, among the students, where one of them would have been put had he died next. I wish no monument or fuss whatever over my grave ; only a simple headstone, no text or sentiment inscribed, only my name and date. I wish the simplest funeral service, without sermon or attempt at oratory — a soldier's funeral. I hope there will be enough friends to see that the work of the school shall continue. Unless some shall make sacrifice for it, it cannot go on. A work that requires no sacrifice does not count for much in fulfilling God's plans. But what is commonly called sacrifice is the best, happiest use of one's self and one's resources — the best investment of time, strength, and means. He who makes no such a sacrifice is most to be pitied. He is a heathen, because he knows nothing of God. In the school, the great thing is not to quar- rel ; to pull all together ; to refrain from hasty, unwise words and actions ; to unselfishly and wisely seek the best good of all ; and to get rid of workers whose temperaments are unfortunate, whose heads are not level, no matter how much knowledge or culture they may have. Cantanker- ousness is worse than heterodoxy. 15 EDUCATION FOR LIFE I wish no efforl: at a biography of myself made. Good friends might get up a pretty good story, but it would not be the whole truth. The truth of a life usually lies deep down — we hardly know ourselves — God only does. I trust His mercy. The shorter one's creed the better. " Simply to Thy cross I cling" is enough for me. I am most thankful for my parents, my Ha- waiian home, for war experiences, for college days at Williams, and for life and work at Hampton. Hampton has blessed me in so many ways ; along with it have come the choicest people of this country for my friends and helpers, and then such a grand chance to do something directly for those set free by the war, and indirectly for those who were conquered; and Indian work has been an- other great privilege. Few men have had the chance that I have had. 1 never gave up or sacrificed anything in my life — have been, seemingly, guided in every- thing. Prayer is the greatest thing in the world. It keeps us near to God. My own prayer has been most weak, wavering, inconstant ; yet it has been the best thing I have ever done. I think this is a universal truth ; what comfort is there in any but the broadest truth? 16 lUOGRAPHlCAI. NOTE I am most curious to get a glimpse of the next world. How will it seem ? Perfectly fair and perfectly natural, no doubt. We ought not to fear death. It is friendly. The only pain that comes at the thought of it is for my true, faithful wife and blessed, dear children. But they will be brave about it all, and, in the end, stronger. They are my greatest com- fort. Hampton must not go down. See to it you who are true to the black and red children of the land, and to just ideas of education. The loyalty of my old soldiers, and of my students, has been an unspeakable comfort. It pays to follow one's light— to put God and country first ; ourselves afterwards. Taps has just sounded. S. C. Armstrong liarnt>ion, V'a. New Year's Eve. 1S90 17 EDUCATION OF THE HAND The training of the hand has been the neglected factor in our civilization. It is pushing its way into the common schools — opposed, but sure to spread,. Address at Oaliii College, 1891 The people of the country do not yet under- stand the need of supporting professors \vho shall impart practical knowledge and teach habits of labor and self-reliance, as they do the need of en? dowing Greek professorships. Report for 1876 Character is the best outcome of the labor system. That makes it worth its cost many times over. It is not cheap, but it pays. Report for 1891 The moral advantages of industrial training over all other methods justify the expense. Report for 1872 Experience has strengthened my conviction of labor as a moral force. Report for 1888 in all men, education is conditioned not alone on an enlightened head and a changed heart, but 18 . ROUGATION OF THE H.\NI> very largely on a routine of industrious habits, which is to character what the foundation is to the pyramid. The summit should glow with a divine light, interfusing and qualifying the whole mass, but it should never be forgotten that it is only upon a foundation of regular daily activities that there can be any fine and permanent upbuilding. Morality and industry generally go together. In the great Missionary Conference in Lon- don in 1888, it was said that converts in Africa need industrial education for moral reasons, and converts in India to keep them from starving. Self-support must go along with Christian liv- ing. It is hard to be honest if you are starving. A man who can support himself is more likely to lead a Christian life. Subtract hard work from life, and in a few months it will have all gone to pieces. Labor, next to the grace of God in the heart, is the great- est promoter of morality, the greatest power for civilization. Address at Mohunk 1S90 The time assigned to labor reduces that usu- ally devoted to study one-fourth, yet progress is retarded much, less, if at all. The ra/te of study is 19 EDUCATION FOR LIFE increased, both by bodily vigor and by the desire to make the most of hard-earned chances, so that the curriculum is as extensive as it would be with- out labor, but the highest advantages accrue from it as a means of strengthening character. Report for lb73 The plan of combining mental and physical labor is a priori full of objections. The course of study does not run smoothly ; there is action and reaction, depression and delight ; but the reserve forces of character no longer lie dormant. They make the rough places smooth ; the school be- comes a drill ground for future work. It sends men and women rather than scholars into the world. Report for JS70 Labor must be required of all ; non-w^orkers: being an aristocracy ruinous to manual-labor schools. Address before the National Educational Association 1872 Organized industries," giving the students a chance to meet bills for board and clothing by labor, high standards of discipline, carefully weed- ing out the unworthy but excluding all corporal or other humiliating punishment whatever, a per- fectly fair and firm administration, and the highest 20 FDUCATION OF THF: HAND order of skill in teaching, these make a combi- nation of influences that will be ett'ective, if any- thing can be, to the production of skilful, perse- vering teachers, of wise leaders, of peacemakers, rather than noisy and dangerous demagogues. Report for 1ST2 The temporal salvation of the colored race for some time to come is to be won out of the ground. Skilful agriculturists and mechanics are needed rather than poets and orators. Report for 1H72 The discipline of the farmer is as strict as that of the teacher. The man who leads in the de- bating club may be the last and laziest in the field ; one who is dull in mathematics may be at the head of the working squad. Thus we are guarded against the one-sided estimate of ordinary schools. With us position is achieved in the field as well as in the recitation room. Labor is honored and a just pride is felt by those who succeed in working out their expenses. Report for 1873 The Negro race will succeed or fail as it shall devote itself with energy to agriculture and me- chanic arts, or avoid these pursuits, and its teach- ers must be inspired with the spirit of hard work and acquainted with the ways that lead to material success. Report for 1873 21 EDUCATION FOR LIFE Teaching and farming go well together in the present condition of things (in the South). 71ie teacher-farmer is the man for the times ; he is essentially an educator throughout the year. '"Southern Workman," March IShV To put into every state an agricultural school and experiment station open to the colored race and adapted to their especial needs, in direct com- munication with their leading farmers, spreading through circulars and bulletins practical informa- tion and furnishing stimulus to thousands who now never see anything of the sort,— this is a work which should be provided for in any broad, na- tional plan for educational improvement in the South. "Southern Workman," April lfi9V We believe that whenever a " manual-labor system " is attempted, it should be carefully ad- justed to the demands of scientific and practici^l education. The question at once arises what this manual labor should be. There are two theories, of which the first is that its entire aim should be to give the means to students of supporting them- selves, that a profitable farm on a very large scale should enable a large number of students to sup- port themselves by agriculture, and that work- shops on a large scale for the manufacture of some 22 RDIJCATION OF [HE HANI) simple fabrics of universal consumption should enable a large number of students to support them- selves by mechanic arts ; that in both these cases the main theory should be self-supporting industry and not educational industry. The second theory is that the primary object of manual labor in both departments should be educational ; that is, that the work should be first of all done with a view to perfect the student in the best processes, and to make him scientifically and practically a first-class agriculturist and mechanic. While the first of these theories may at times be desirable, the second is essential, and all schools which are destined to be permanently successful must be founded upon the fact that aid given to them by individuals is not to assist ten, twenty, or fifty young people to support themselves, but to enable hundreds of them to obtain a thorough, practical, and scientific education, in order to develop the industrial resources of the nation. Evidently such an education must be in the outset expensive, for no harvest can be reaped without a libera! sowing of seed ; and while institutions which are self-sup- porting are good, the schools which give the best ultimate results and tell most favorabh upon the national life, are those which, while managed with the utmost thrift and economy, ha\ e for their 23 EDUCATION FOR LIFE primary object education rather than production. Report for 1876 Back of any theory Hes a personal experience which forces us more and more strongly into faith in the as yet unmeasured power for good which a well-administered industrial system exerts over those who, either by choice or by necessity, are brought under its influence. Setting aside alto- gether what may be called its commercial value, we find it to be one of the strongest moral forces that we have at our disposal and are inclined to look upon it as the cornerstone of civilization of the two races with whose education we have to do. We do not hesitate to say that we have found its influence in the creation of character to be so marked that we should be loth to give it up as our best allj , under God, in the work which we have undertaken. Report for 1884 The manual-labor system w^as made funda- mental here from the first for its own sake, with full conviction of its value in the symmetrical development of the individual or the race, and with readiness to sacrifice to this the necessary per cent of mere mental culture. Experience for sixteen years confirm^ this conviction and is 24 EDUCATION OF THE HAND proving that industrial training leads, on the whole and in the long run, not against but in favor of mental progress. "Southern Workman," July IS84 The weekly workday breaks in upon the study but wakes up the mind. More actual prog- ress can be accomplished with it than without it. "Southern Workman, " July 1S84 Another advantage watched here with the greatest interest from year to year is the moral stimulus of the work idea and habit, the earnest- ness it gives to character, the quickening and strengthening to intellect. "Southern Workman, " July ISS4 Determination, courage, endurance, faith, — these are some of the things which flourish in the hard conditions of our night school, and experience has taught us that it is only through contact with the real things of life that these virtues can be made permanent and characteristic. "Southern Workman," August 1SS7 A boy or girl, who does not expect to be a mechanic, is all the better for knowing how to handle common tools — to mend a school bench, make a blackboard or a set of shelves. But we feel that the student who can take a regular 25 EDUCATION FOR LIFE apprenticeship, or a partial one even, gets most out of the school ; and most of its bone and sinew comes up through the shops, with from one to two years in the night school, ending with the day classes and working two days in the week. "Southern Workman, " December 1889 What, then, is the superior advantage of ap- prenticeship over technical instruction ? First and chiefly it is that element of reality which gives force and meaning to life ; the interest in work, the habits of carefulness, accuracy, thoroughness, that come from this element ; the strength born of purpose and responsibility, of being put in touch with business tests and business standards. "Southern Workman," December 1889 Profit (financial) from our industrial opera- tions is incidental, not essential. Only getting back cost of material and of student's labor is essential. But a dollar earned is better than a dollar given. Man making is first, money making is second. But the skill and t*he drill that make money may be good for men. Report for 1891 Instruction must be considered as much as production. The shop is for the boy, not the boy for the shop. Report for 1891 26 EDUCATION OF THE HAND The idea of self-help can be carried out only by productive industries. Honestly giving value for value, labor becomes a stepping stone, a ladder, to education, to all higher things, to success, man- hood, and character. Report for 1892 27 EDUCATION OF THE MIND The end of mental training is a discipline and power, not derived so much from knowledge as from the method and spirit of the student. Report for 1870 To me the end of education for the classroom is more and more clear. It should be straight thinking. Report for 1S99 The power to think clearly and straight comes from proper training. It is most successful when that training is obtained through self-help, which underlies the best work of all men. Address at Oahu College, 1891 Schools are not for brain alone but for the whole man. The teachers should be not mere pedagogues but citizens. "Southern Workman, " March 1892 The personal force of the teacher is the main thing. Outfit and apparatus, about which so much fuss is made, are secondary. "Southern Workman," March 1891 28 EDUCATION OF THE MIND Character does not develop as rapidly as mind. School work is (commonly) directed to mind, indirectly to morals, and if the latter are benefited it is from the personal quality and influence of the teacher rather than from sys- tematic training. "Southern Workman," October 1880 Educate the whole man is the idea ; fit the pupil for the life he is likely to lead. Spelling books do not, as a matter of course, make manly fibre, and practical self-restraint is not the immediate result of learning. " Southern Workman, " July 1876 Books are essential to knowledge, but not to wisdom and manly force. Address before American Missionary Association, October 1877 Education is a slowly working leaven in an immense mass, whose pervasive, directive force cannot be felt generally for many years. ' ' Southern Workman, ' ' January 1877 Too much is expected of mere book-knowl- edge ; too much is expected of one generation. The real upward movement, the leveling up, not of persons but of people, will be, as in all history, almost imperceptible, to be measured only by long periods. "Southern Workman," July 1876 29 EDUCATION FOR LIFE I have for many years been preaching that knowledge is not power. Undigested knowledge produces a malady sometimes called the " big- head." Address at Oahu College, 1891 The Negro is more successful in getting knowl- edge than in using it. To him, as to all, knowl- edge comes easily but wisdom slowly. Report for 1891 I think too much stress is laid on the impor- tance of choosing one of the great lines of study— the classics or the natural sciences— and too little upon the vital matter of insight into the life and spirit of that which is studied. Vital knowledge cannot be got from books ; it comes from insight, and we attain it by earnest and steady thought, under wise direction. Report for 1870 Over-education and lack of personal training are dangers with the weak races. The proper limit of teaching is difl&cult to settle but is much ignored in the philanthropic work of the day ; hence waste of work and disappointment. For the average pupil too much is as bad as too little. "Southern Workman," October 1880 The past of our colored population has been such that an institution devoted especially to them 30 EDUCATION OF THE MIND must provide a training more than usually com- prehensive, must include both sexes and a variety of occupation, must produce moral as well as mental strength, and while making its students first-rate mechanical laborers must also make them first-rate men and women. Report for 1876 An English course embracing reading and elocution, geography, mathematics, history, the science of civil government, the natural sciences, the study of the mother tongue and its literature, the leading principles of mental and moral science and political economy, would, I think, make up a curriculum that would exhaust the best powers of nineteen-twentieths of those who would, for years to come, enter the Institute. Should, however, any pupil have a rare aptitude for the classics and desire to become a man of letters in the largest sense, it would be our duty to provide special instruction for him or send him where he could receive it. Report for 1870 Exceptional talent should have exceptional scope, but, as in nature, the broadest cultivation is on the plain or tableland. Genius doesn't need as much attention as mediocrity. The average is the right base for educational operations. 31 EDUCATION FOR LIFE The great need of the Negro is logic, and the subjection of feeHng to reason, yet in supplying his studies we must exercise his curiosity, his love of the marvelous, and his imagination, as means of sustaining his enthusiasm. Report for 1870 Our work has been to civilize ; instruction in books is not all of it. General deportment, habits of living and of labor, right ideas of life and duty, are taught in order that graduates may be qualified to teach others these important lessons of life. Report for 1876 These people are constantly victimized through their ignorance of business methods, and are usually careless and inefficient in such matters. Every student ought to know how to make out a bill or a promissory note and how to give a proper receipt, and should be familiar with the ways of buying and selling land. Address before the National Educational Association, 1872 I prefer to have as pupils those from seven- teen to twenty-two years of age, because it is the most formative period; those younger may be more plastic but don't " sta.y put" so well. There is too much putty in the early teens. Later there is better mental digestion, more bodily hardness, 32 RDUCATION FOR 1,1 FF. and more intelligent, decisive, reliable choice of ends. Report for 1893 Some students acquire with difficulty but this class is likely to furnish many useful teachers who may have the best elements of success, even if they are not brilliant scholars. Nothing pays like working for ideas. Ideas, like bullets, are at the front of progress, where men should be. Frum a private letter. January ISHU 33 EDUCATION OF THE CHARACTER R esponsibility is the best developing force, and development is the end of all education. Address at Oahu College, 1891 Many a youth has the disadvantage of bis advantages in that he does not earn his education by a struggle, which in itself creates the finest thing in manhood. "Southern Workman," September ISSD Men need to Be thrown upon their knees sometimes ; defeat and difficulty are our best teach- ers. From a private letter, November 1S83 People become trustworthy by being trusted ; they learn life's lessons in life, not outside it. " Southern Workman," September I SSO There is no better work than putting the bot- tom of the ladder where the man is, so that he can, by his own effort, climb to the top. Report fur 1S80 Doing what " can't be done " is the glory of living. Restless energy is a weakness ; balanced ac- tivity is the thing. 34 RDUCATION OF THE CHARAfM KK Habits cannot be reversed at once like a steam engine. It takes time, and in time it can be done. " Southern Workman. " .September ISSO The way to strengthen the weak is con- stantly to test them under favorable conditions. To change low ideas of their mutual relations into higher ones they must be trained, not in the abstract, but in the concrete. Manhood is best brought out b\ recognition of it. Citizenship, with the common school, is the great developing force in this country. There is nothing like faith to bring out the manly quality. It is important that the teachers of common schools be fitted and enjoined to give to their pupils instruction in the details and duties of daily living. Much can be done to popularize right hygienic ideas and sound ideas generally, but onI> by the greatest patience and perseverance. " .Southern ff'orhinun. " Junuary 1H7H Didactic and dogmatic work has little to do with the formation of character, which is our point. That is done by making the school a little world in itself; mingling hard days' work in field or shop with social pleasures, making success depend 35 EDUCATION FOR LIFE on behavior rather than on study marks. School Hfe should be Hke real life. "Southern Workman, " November 1880 There is such a thing as too many students, especially when the work is upon character and morals. Report for 1876 Good, wholesome reading is an excellent thing for the formation of character. A business education is conducive to honesty and promotes thrift and success. Address before the National Educational Association, 1872 By and by it will be part of a liberal education to devote a year or more to personal labor for the unfortunate. Address at Oaku College, 189 1 Sociology is the great practical science of the day and leads all others. The Kingdom of Heaven will come through sociology well studied and applied wisely, in a level-headed way. Letter to Robert C. Ogden, 1892 I regard the idea of a mission, in the mind of an Indian, Negro, or any youth, as a directive and helpful force of the greatest value in the formation of character. Address before the National Educational Association, 188t 36 EDUCATION OF THE CHARACTFK The normal-school graduate of the South should be of the people, above them, yet of them, in order to make natural or probable a lifelong service in their behalf. Address before the National Educational Association, 1S72 Conversion is indeed the starting point of a better life ; it is to character what the seed is to the ripe fruit. The choice of God's service is the initial step; the goal is the rounded, perfect, Chris- tian life. To take the step requires the decision, possibly of a moment; to reach the goal is the struggle of a lifetime. Viewed thus, one under- stands that it is not the planting of the seed which costs, but the wise and vigilant care of the grow- ing crop. All over the world we find men accepting, with comparative readiness, the theories of Chris- tianity, while its moralities remain beyond their reach ; and this must be so until the reconstruc- tive power of a many-sided training is recognized, and systems are adopted which build up men "all round." Report for 18Sf The family is the unit of civilization, and the conditions of pure family living are the first things to be created in educating men and women. Hence 37 EDUCATION FOR LIFK the co-education of the sexes is indispensable. "Southern Workman," February 1S81) If the condition of women is the true gauge of civiHzation, how would we be working, except indirectly, for a real elevation of society by train- ing young men alone ? In every respect the op- portunities of the sexes should be equal. Report for 1870 Mingle the sexes ; satisfy human nature in a reasonable way ; fit them for life by letting them live as they will have to live ; and they will have more character. "Southern Workman," September 1880 There is no better work for the South than to help its white as well as its black youth to the education which the ravages of made war im- possible. Our reconstruction laws have been like a bridge of wood over a river of fire. Lifting the people by Christian education is casting up a high- way for the Prince of Peace. Report for 1884 Real progress is not in increase of wealth or power, but is gained in wisdom, in self-control, in guiding principles, and in Christian ideas. That is the only true reconstruction. To that Hampton's work is devoted. Report for 1881 38 KDU CATION OF \HE CH ARACTKK The education needed is one that touches upon the whole range of Hfe, that aims at the form- ation of good habits and sound principles, that con- siders the details of each day : that enjoins, in respect to diet, regularity, proper selection, and good cooking ; in respect to habits, suitable cloth- ing, exercise, cleanliness of persons and quarters, and ventilation, also industry and thrift ; and, in respect to all things, intelligent practice and self- restramt. "Southern Workman," January IS 7S There are two objective points before us. One is the training of the intellect, storing it with the largest amount of knowledge, producing the brightest examples of culture ; the other is the more difficult one of attempting to educate in the broadest sense of the word, to draw out a com- plete manhood. The former is a laborious but simple work ; the latter is full of difficulty. It is not easy to surround the student with a perfectly bal- anced system of influences. The value of every good appliance is limited and ceases when not perfectly adjusted to the higher end. The needle, the broom, and the washtub, the awl, the plane, and the plow, become the allies of the globe, the blackboard, and the textbook. Report for ISTO 39 EDUCATION FOR LIFE The average Negro student needs a regime which shall control the twenty-four hours of each day ; thus only can the old ideas and ways be pushed out and new ones take their place. The formation of good habits is fundamental in our work. In a Northern school they may, perhaps, be presupposed ; with us they are an objective point — one that, however, is easily reached, for the Negro pupil, like the Negro soldier, is readily transformed under wise control into remarkable tidiness and good conduct generally. "Southern Workman, " February IS'S'2 Of all our work, that upon the heart is the most important ; there can be no question as to the paramount necessity of teaching the vital pre- cepts of the Christian faith and of striving to awaken a genuine enthusiasm for a higher life that shall be sustained and shall be the strong support of the young workers who may go out to be examples to their race. Report for I870 Our most perplexing cases have been those of honest, well-meaning students, either of limited ability and fine character, or of low propensity or childishness, or coarseness of character. One of the latter class may be zealous and there may be power in him that will be used in a good or 40 EDUCATION OF THE CHARACTER bad cause ; yet his evil traits will be quickly caught by the pliant and younger ones around him. He may finally become a strong and worthy man, but meanwhile great mischief is wrought; the tone of the school is lowered, and many have learned wickedness of which they can scarcely be cured. Report for 1H7I) The question with the Negroes is not one of special proficiency, of success in one direction — the pursuit of knowledge — but of success all around. It is one of morals, industry, self-restraint; of power to organize society, to draw social lines between the decent and indecent, to form public sentiment that shall support pure morals, and to show common sense in the relations of life. "Southern Workman, " July 1876 To implant right motive power and good hab- its aided, by the student's own perceptions, to make him train himself, is the end of discipline. Yet there is need of much external force, mental and moral, especially upon the plastic natures with which we deal. There must be study of the charac- ter, advice, sympathy, and, above all, a judicious letting alone. Report for U70 Our military drill has been found of decided assistance, not only because of its effect in making 41 EDUCATION FOR LIFE certain minor virtues habitual, but also because it makes possible a training in self-discipline through our students' court martial, and does much to promote that esprit de corps in which the Negro is markedly lacking. Manifestly too, it gives a certain sparkle to the dull round of daily duty which is not without its influence upon both teachers and pupils. The music of a band and the shining of an occasional epaulette do a great deal toward enlivening long days in the carpenter shop or the laundry, as everywhere else. " A merry heart goes half the way." "Southern Workman, " April 1886 With the freed people music is the only ade- quate interpreter of the past and offers for their future a lifting, inspiring force not half appreciated. Getting wealth is desirable for the freedman ; it makes him a safer and better citizen and creates favorable conditions for that morality, the want of which is his weak point. Report for I889 It remains to make the best of things. Those who are hopeless disarm themselves and may as well go to the rear; men and women of faith, optimists, to the front. Address at Oahu College, 1891 42 EDUCATION OF THE CHARACTER Mere optimism is stupid; sanctified common sense is the force that wins. Work for God and man is full of detail; it needs organization, and that requires subordination, sometimes painful holding of the tongue; gabble and gossip, even that of the pious, is one of the most fatal devices of the Evil One ; the friction and fuss in God's army does much to defeat it. Working together is as important as working at all. Address at Oafiu College, 1891 43 GENERAL ARMSTRONG'S FIRST ANNUAL REPORT (1870) We have before us this question : What should be the character of an educational institu- tion devoted to the poorer classes of the South? It is presumed that the greatest amount of good, the wisest expenditure of effort and money are sought. It is useless at present to expect the ignorant whites to accept instruction side by side with the colored race. To a broad impartiality the Negro only responds. Let us consider, therefore, what answer to our problem is indicated by the charac- ter and needs of the freed people. Plainly a sys- tem is required which shall be at once construc- tive of mental and moral worth, and destructive of the vices characteristic of the slave. What are these vices ? They are improvidence, low ideas of honor and morality, and a general lack of di- rective energy, judgment, and foresight. Thus disabled, the ex-slave enters upon the merciless competition incident to universal freedom. Politi- cal power being placed in his hands, he becomes 44 GENERAL ARMSTRONGS FIRST ANNUAL REPORT the prey of the demagogue or attempts that low part himself. In either case he is the victim of his greatest weakness— vanity. Mere tuition is not enough to rescue him from being forever a tool, politically and otherwise. The educated man usually overestimates himself, because his intellect has grown faster than his experience in life ; but the danger to the Negro is greater, proportion- ally, as his desire is to shine rather than to do. His deficiencies of character are, 1 believe, worse for him and the world than his ignorance. But, with these deficiencies, are a docility and en- thusiasm for improvement, and a perseverance in the pursuit of it, which form a basis of great hope, and justify any outlav and the ablest service in his behalf. At Hampton, Va., a spot central and accessi- ble from a wide extent of country, we are trying to solve the problem of an education best suited to the needs of the poorer classes of the South, by sending out to them teachers of moral strength as well as mental culture. To this end the most prom- ising youths are selected. The poverty of these pupils has required the introduction of manual labor. Let us examine the system in its three- fold aspect, industrial, moral, and intellectual, and disciplinary or administrative. 45 EDUCATION FOR LIFE First : The plan of combining mental and physical labor is a priori full of objections. It is admitted that it involves friction, constant em- barrassment, and apparent disadvantage to educa- tional advancement, as well as to the profits of various industries. But to the question, "Do your students have sufficient time to study all their les- sons faithfully ? " I should answer, " Not enough, judging from the common use of time ; but under pressure they make use of the hours they have ; there is an additional energy put forth, an in- creased rate of study which makes up for the time spent in manual labor, while the physical vigor gained affords abundant strength for severe mental labor." Nothing is of more benefit than this compulsory waking up of the faculties. After a life of drudgery the plantation hand will, under this system, brighten and learn surprisingly well. In the girls' industrial housework depart- ments, there is an assignment, for a period, of a certain number to certain duties. On the farm, the plan of working the whole force of young men for a few hours each day has been given up for the better one of dividing them into five squads, each of which works one day of each week, and all on Saturdays. All are paid by the hour for their service, at the rate of from four to ten 46 GENERAL ARMSTRONG'S FIRST ANNUAL REPORT cents, according to the kind of work done. Under these arrangements our industries thrive and were never so hopeful as now. The very difficult prob- lem of creating a profitable industry for girls has been solved in the most fortunate manner by sup- plying the boys at a fair price with clothing made of good material. Our students, both young men and young women, go to their appointed duties with cheerfulness and the school is full of the spirit of self-help. However the future may decide the question, our two years' experience of the manual-labor system has been satisfactory. Progress in study has been rapid and thorough ; I venture to say, not excelled in any school of the same grade. There have been a steadiness and solidity of character and a spirit of self-denial developed, an appreciation of the value of opportunities mani- fested, which would not be possible under other conditions. Unfortunately there is a limit to the number who can be profitably employed. This Institute should, I think, be polytechnic — growing step by step, adding new industries as the old ones shall become established and remunerative ; thus enlarging the limits of paying labor and in- creasing the attendance, hoping finally to crown its ruder products with the results of finer effort in the region of art. 47 EDUCATION FOR LIFE There are two objective points before us, toward one or the other of which all our energies must soon be directed as the final work of this institution. One is the training of the intellect, storing it with the largest amount of knowledge, producing the brightest examples of culture ; the other is the more difficult one of attempting to educate in the original and broadest sense of the word, to draw out a complete manhood. The former is a laborious but simple work ; the latter is full of difficulty. It is not easy to surround the student with a perfectly balanced system of in- fluences. The value of every good appliance is limited, and ceases when not perfectly adjusted to the higher end. The needle, the broom, and the washtub, the awl, the plane, and the plow become the allies of the globe, the blackboard, and the textbook. The course of study does not run smoothly ; there is action and reaction, depression and de- light, but the reserve forces of character no longer lie dormant. They make the rough places smooth ; the school becomes a drill ground for future work ; it sends men and women rather than scholars into the world. But what should be studied in a course like this? The question brings us to the second branch 48 GENKRAI. ARMSTRONGS FIRST ANNUM. REPORT of our subject; namely, its moral and intellectual aspect. The end of mental training is a discipline and power, not derived so much from knowledge as from the method and spirit of the student. I think too much stress is laid on the importance of choosing one of the great lines of study, the classics or the natural sciences, and too little upon the vital matter of insight into the life and spirit of that which is studied. Latin, taught by one man, is an inspiration ; by another it is drudgery. Who can say that the study of this or that is requisite, without conditioning its value upon the fitness of the teacher ? Vital knowledge cannot be got from books; it comes from insight, and we attain it by earnest and steady thought under wise direction. But let us consider the practical question whether the classics should be made an object in our course, or whether, ruling them out, we should teach only the higher English studies. It is the theory of Matthew Arnold that a teacher should develop the special aptitudes; to ignore them is failure; the attempt to cast all minds in one mould is useless. But for one Anglo- African who would, on this theory, need to "ac- quire the ancient languages, there are, I believe, twenty whose best aptitude would find full scope 49 EDUCATION FOR LIFE in the study of the mother tongue and its htera- ture, supposing them to have a taste for language and for the higher pursuits of the human mind. Emerson says, " What is really best in any book is translatable — any real insight or broad human sentiment." He who has mastered the English, then, has within reach whatever is best in all literature. Our three years' course, with but little pre- liminary training, cannot be expected to furnish much. Our students could never become advanced enough in that time to be more than superficially acquainted with Latin and Greek; their knowl- edge would rather tend to cultivate their conceit than to fit them for faithful educators of their race, because not complete enough to enable them to estimate its true value. The great need of the Negro is logic, and the subjection of feeling to reason ; yet in supplying his studies we must exer- cise his curiosity, his love of the marvelous, and his imagination, as means of sustaining his en- thusiasm. An English course embracing reading and elocution, geography, mathematics, history, the sci- ences, the study of the mother tongue and its lit- erature, the leading principles of mental and moral science and of political economy, would, I think, 50 GENE«\I. ARMSTRONGS FIRST ANNUA!, REPORT make up a curriculum that would exhaust the best powers of nineteen-twentieths of those who would, for years to come, enter the Institute. Should, however, any pupil have a rare aptitude for the classics and desire to become a man of letters in the largest sense, it would be our duty to provide special instruction for him or send him where he could receive it. For such the Howard University at Washington oft'ers a broad and high plane of intellectual advantage. The question of co-education of the sexes is, to my mind, settled by most favorable experi- ence with the present plan. Our school is a little world; the life is genuine; the circle of influence is complete. The system varies industry and cheapens the cost of living. If the condition of woman is the true gauge of civilization, how should we be working, except indirectly, for a real ele- vation of society by training young men alone? The freed woman is where slavery left her. Her average state is one of pitiable destitution of what- ever should adorn and elevate her sex. In every respect the opportunities of the sexes should be equal, and two years of experience have shown that young men and young women of color may be educated together to the greatest mutual ad- vantage, and without detriment to a high moral standard. 51 EDUCATION FOR LIFE We now come to the consideration of the third branch of our subject; namely, the disciplin- ary features of the institution. No necessity has so far arisen for the adoption of a system of marks, prizes, or other such incentives. Expulsion has sometimes, though rarely, been resorted to. Our most perplexing cases have been those of honest, w^ell-meaning students, either of limited ability and fine character, or those of low propensity or childishness, or coarseness of character. One of the latter class may be a zealous student, and there may be a power in him that will be used in a good or bad cause; yet this evil trait will be quickly caught by the pliant and younger ones around him. He finally may become a strong and worthy man, but, meanwhile, great mischief is wrought; the tone of the school is lowered; many have learned wickedness of which they can scarcely be cured. The celebrated head master of Rugby said, " Till a man learns that the first, second, and the third duty of a schoolmaster is to get rid of unpromising subjects, a great public school will never be what it might be, and ^vhat it ought to be." A course of study, beyond the rudiments, is not best for all. I expect young men will be discharged, without dishonor, from this Institute, who will become eminent, partly because sent oft to travel a more difficult and heroic way. 52 GENERAL ARMSTRONGS FIRST ANNUAL REPOR1 To implant right motive power and good hab- its, aided by the student's own perceptions, to make him train himself, is the end of discipline. Yet there is need of much external force, mental and moral, especially upon the plastic natures with which we deal. There must be study of the char- acter, advice, sympathy, and, above all, a judicious letting alone. Of all our work, that upon the heart is the most important ; there can be no question as to the paramount necessity of teaching the vital pre- cepts of the Christian faith, and of striving to awaken a genuine enthusiasm for the higher life that shall be sustained and shall be the strong support of the young workers who may go out to be examples to their race. In the history of our institution so far, we have cause for encouragement. Three shears ago this month our building began, with but $2000 on hand or in prospect ; for although the American Missionary Association selected and purchased this most fortunate spot and paid our running ex- penses, it could not offer the means of construc- tion. Already nearly $100,000 have been expended in permanent improvements, for which we may thank the Freedmen's Bureau and Northern bene- factors. I think we may reasonably hope to build 53 EDUCATION FOR LIFE Up here, on historic ground, an institution that will aid freedmen to escape from the difficulties that surround them, by affording the best possible agency for their improvement in mind and heart, by sending out, not pedagogues, but those whose culture shall be upon the ^vhole circle of living, and who, with clear insight and strong purpose, will do a quiet work that shall make the land purer and better. 54 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 773 293 A